Día de los Muertos at TAM, Halloween deals, and Pentatonix at the Dome

Happy Halloween weekend, Tacoma. This issue has your Saturday covered — discounted entry at the Museum of Glass, a Día de los Muertos celebration on Sunday, and a council vote that changes how the city handles blighted properties. Plus: Tuesday is Election Day, and the weather cooperates for trick-or-treating.

Community Events & Things to Do

• Halloween at the Museum of Glass. Wear a costume on Saturday, October 31 (10am–5pm) and get $3 off admission; everyone who shops in the store saves 15% that day. Museum of Glass events
• 22nd Annual Día de los Muertos Festival. Tacoma Art Museum and Mi Centro co-host a full day of community altars, music, dance, and bilingual storytelling on Sunday, November 1 from 10am to 5pm. TAM event page
• Tacoma City Ballet presents Dracula. Close out Halloween weekend with a full-length gothic ballet at the Pantages Theater on Saturday, October 31 at 8pm. Tickets at ticketmaster.com.
• Pentatonix: Christmas in the City Tour. The five-voice a cappella group takes the Tacoma Dome on Thursday, November 5 at 7pm — Christmas music before Thanksgiving, and worth every penny. Tickets at Ticketmaster
• Live at the Eleanor: Bandit Improv Theater. Unscripted comedy — "The Reader," a tarot-themed long-form improv show — in the Tacoma Armory's Roosevelt Room on Saturday, October 31. Doors 7pm, show at 8pm. Tickets are $24.54 (price includes online fees). Tacoma Arts Live
• Branch Out: Tree Share and Planting Event. The Tacoma Tree Foundation gives away free trees and hosts a community planting day on Saturday, November 7. Show up, grab a tree, go home greener. Tacoma Tree Foundation

For Families

• Día de los Muertos Festival — Tacoma Art Museum. Sunday, November 1, 10am–5pm. Mi Centro and TAM co-host the 22nd annual celebration with sugar skull decorating, community altars, live music, and bilingual storytelling for all ages. Price: $$ (regular TAM admission; children 6 and under free). TAM event page
• Family Fun Skate at the Tacoma Armory. Sunday, November 1. Tacoma Arts Live opens the Armory floor for an all-ages skate session — a fun indoor plan the day after Halloween. Check the site for session times and pricing. Price: $. Tacoma Arts Live
• Adult Late Skate (18+) at the Tacoma Armory. Sunday, November 1. Tacoma Arts Live hosts an adults-only late skate session at the Armory the same evening as Family Fun Skate. Check Tacoma Arts Live for session times and pricing. Price: $. Tacoma Arts Live

Next Month in Tacoma

November brings a stadium-filling holiday concert, two intimate evenings at the Armory, a civic tree canopy report with a ticket price, and discount skating every Wednesday.

• Pentatonix: Christmas in the City Tour. Thursday, November 5, 7pm, Tacoma Dome, 2727 East D St. The vocal quintet turns the Dome into a full Christmas experience weeks ahead of the holiday. Tickets at Ticketmaster
• Live at the Eleanor with Bandit Improv Theater — November date. Saturday, November 21 at the Tacoma Armory Roosevelt Room. Bandit Improv returns for another round of "The Reader" tarot comedy show. Doors 7pm, show 8pm. Tickets $24.54 including online fees. Tacoma Arts Live
• State of the Urban Forest. Tuesday, November 10, 7–9pm at 902 Market St., Tacoma. The Tacoma Tree Foundation's annual report to the community covers tree canopy data, policy, and ways to get involved; Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello is a featured speaker. Tacoma Tree Foundation
• CheapSk8 Wednesdays at the Tacoma Armory. Every Wednesday in November starting November 4. Tacoma Arts Live runs discounted public skate sessions all month at 1001 Yakima Ave — the city's best mid-week budget night. Tacoma Arts Live

General Local News Roundup

• Feds claim 400+ noncitizens voted in Washington; state pushes back. Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd announced Monday that federal authorities have identified more than 400 noncitizens — many lawful permanent residents — who allegedly cast ballots in past state and federal elections, and asked Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to set those ballots aside ahead of Tuesday's midterm. Hobbs called voter fraud "incredibly rare" in Washington and said the timing appeared "intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results." Pierce County voters casting ballots this week should know the dispute is active. Read more (Tacoma Daily Index)
• City hosting free services expo and hiring fair Friday. The City of Tacoma, Tacoma Public Schools, and community partners are holding T-Town: City Services Expo and Trades & Hiring Fair on Friday, October 30 from 10am to 6pm. A practical free stop for anyone looking for city services, job leads, or trades career information. Details at tacoma.gov

City Government & Council News

• New property maintenance rules close gaps for blighted properties. On October 27, the Tacoma City Council passed Ordinance 29125, creating a consistent citywide standard for property upkeep and stronger enforcement tools against repeat violators, effective January 1, 2027. If you have dealt with a persistently neglected neighbor property, this ordinance gives code enforcement a clearer legal foundation to act. Read more (tacoma.gov)
• Second biennial budget public hearing set for November 10. The council held its first public hearing on the proposed 2027–2028 biennial budget on October 27. The second hearing, where residents can formally comment before the budget is finalized, is set for Tuesday, November 10 at 5:15pm at the Tacoma Municipal Building. Legistar agenda

Weather & Seasonal Notes

Thursday brings clearing skies after a mostly cloudy morning, with a forecast high near 66 — one of the warmer days left in the window. Thursday night stays mostly clear with a low around 51. Friday looks mostly sunny with a high near 68, though a 30% chance of rain arrives after 11pm Friday night. Halloween itself, Saturday, October 31, is expected to be mostly cloudy with a chance of rain before 11am, then partly sunny, with a high near 60 — so there is a slight chance of rain for early trick-or-treaters, but the afternoon should clear. Saturday night stays partly cloudy with a low around 44. Sunday is partly sunny with a high near 58, though a chance of rain returns Sunday night into Monday. Monday looks rainy and mostly cloudy with a forecast high near 53. Keep a jacket and umbrella handy all week — it is not a freeze yet, but rain is in the mix on both sides of the weekend. Full outlook at the NWS Tacoma forecast.

Local Business & Real Estate Spotlight

• Two new restaurants set to open on the same N 26th St block. City of Tacoma business license records show Casa Brava at 3205 N 26th St and Cooks Tavern LLC at 3201 N 26th St — adjacent addresses — each listing a November 26 opening date as full-service restaurants. No announcements beyond the license filings yet, but that stretch of North 26th could get a notable pair of additions just before the holidays. Tacoma business licenses
• New on the books: personal care and retail. Three new businesses in personal care and retail registered with the City of Tacoma this week and next. Halfway Decent Tattoo Inc has filed at 739 St Helens Ave with a November 1 opening date. Bare Current Electrolysis lists November 1 at 7811 Pacific Ave. And Flossi LLC, a health and personal care retailer at 3516 N Huson St, lists an opening of November 11. Tacoma business licenses

Food & Drink

• New full-service restaurant registers in McKinley. Maxine S has registered as a full-service restaurant at 3504 McKinley Ave in the McKinley neighborhood, listing an October 23 opening date with the City of Tacoma. Tacoma business licenses
• Old Town gets a new pub entry in November. Spar Pub Old Town LLC has registered as a full-service restaurant at 2121 N 30th St in the Old Town neighborhood, listing a November 1 opening date. No official announcement beyond the license filing yet — worth watching if you are an Old Town regular. Tacoma business licenses

Frugal Tacoma

• Free admission at Tacoma Art Museum every Thursday evening. TAM is free from 5–8pm every Thursday — including tomorrow, October 29, when the museum hosts the opening reception for photographer Eirik Johnson's Project NW exhibition. Free entry, new work, a good reason to make TAM a weekly habit. Tacoma Art Museum
• CheapSk8 Wednesdays at the Tacoma Armory. Tacoma Arts Live runs discounted public skating every Wednesday at 1001 Yakima Ave. The next session is Wednesday, November 4 — a genuinely cheap, fun mid-week night out Downtown. Check Tacoma Arts Live for current pricing. Tacoma Arts Live

Community Spotlight

Tucked inside Tacoma Public Library's main branch on South G Street, the Northwest Room is one of the city's most underused civic treasures. The collection holds roughly 80,000 photographs, manuscripts, oral histories, historical maps, and newspaper archives documenting Tacoma, Pierce County, and the broader Pacific Northwest. In a post published earlier this month, Northwest Room librarian Spencer Bowman and the Northwest Room staff shared their personal favorite items from the collection for Archives Awareness Month — an annual celebration of the people and institutions that keep historical records alive. The items ranged from photographs of Tacoma schoolchildren in 1943 to hand-set books to wartime correspondence, all of it preserved and catalogued so anyone curious about where this city came from can drop in and look. The Northwest Room is free, open to the public during library hours at the Main Branch, and growing a digitized online presence anyone can browse from home.

Explore the collection at northwestroom.tacomalibrary.org.

Sports

• Tacoma Defiance season ends in playoff heartbreak. The Defiance's 2026 MLS Next Pro campaign is over following a playoff exit — the team fought back from a deficit against San Jose Earthquakes II before falling in a penalty shootout. A gutting end to a season that saw the club battle into the postseason. Tacoma Defiance will return for the 2027 season. Sounder at Heart
• Kraken on the road in Calgary Friday. The Seattle Kraken travel to face the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday, October 30 at 5pm Pacific. Kraken schedule

This Week in Tacoma History

Eighty-six years ago this Saturday, on November 7, 1940, at approximately 11am, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge twisted apart and plunged into the cold water below — just four months and seven days after its opening day on July 1, 1940. Workers had nicknamed it "Galloping Gertie" almost from the beginning for its tendency to ripple and sway in the wind, drawing joyriders from across the region who came specifically to feel the bridge undulate beneath their tires. On the morning of the collapse, sustained high winds set the span oscillating in a new and catastrophic way. Leonard Coatsworth, a Tacoma reporter, had to abandon his car and crawl on hands and knees to safety. The only fatality was his dog Tubby, left behind when the car slid into the Narrows. No people died. The collapse was captured on film, became a textbook case in engineering failure, and changed how suspension bridges are designed across the world.

Read the full account at HistoryLink.org.

Deadlines & Public Notices

• Washington General Election — Tuesday, November 3. Election Day is six days away. Pierce County votes by mail; return your ballot at a drop box or by mail postmarked by November 3. In-person voter registration is open until 8pm on Election Day. Find drop box locations and voter information at votewa.gov
• City of Tacoma Biennial Budget public hearing — Tuesday, November 10, 5:15pm. The second and final public hearing on the proposed 2027–2028 city budget takes place at the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 Market St. Residents can comment on the record before the budget is adopted. Legistar agenda

Before You Go

That is the week, Tacoma. Halloween costumes, Día de los Muertos altars, the first holiday concert of the season, and Election Day all in one run. Here is a question worth pondering: what neighborhood would you most want to see on the Tacoma Tree Foundation's next planting priority list? Hit reply and tell us. And if a neighbor could use a five-minute read to stay caught up on the city, forward this along — it is free.